Pampered and patted on the back - we've earned it

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Performance bonus . . . insurance agents for the Taiwanese company ING Antai who are visiting Sydney this week take time out at Koala Park, West Pennant Hills, yesterday. Photo: Peter Morris

So appreciative is a Taiwanese insurance company of the performance of its most valued agents that, as a reward, it has brought them all to Sydney this week on a virtual holiday. But the 2000 or so insurance agents may not have suspected such gratitude would extend to heavy petting.

As part of their three-day incentive trip the agents visit a special "petting zoo" featuring Australian wildlife set up this morning on the forecourt of the Opera House, as well as tours to Koala Park and BridgeClimb.

The petting will be followed by the business end of the visit: an employee award ceremony at the Opera House in the afternoon, culminating in the appearance of a Taiwanese celebrity.

The tour by the agents from ING Antai underscores the growing importance to Sydney of corporate incentive visits for high-flying employees, invariably lavish affairs.

Asia represents a growing market for Sydney as companies in Asia embraces Western business practices.

For Lee Wood, chief marketing officer for ING Antai, the clincher in selecting Sydney for the visit was securing the Opera House for the main activities. The company chose Sydney over bids from Osaka and Bangkok.

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"Incentive visits have become much more elaborate," he said. "You're always trying to top the last one. And Sydney is a world-class city, with the Opera House known worldwide. We're one of the first insurance companies to be allowed to hold such an event there."

ING Antai's visit will be followed next week by another 2000 strong group from Nan Shan Life Insurance. In fact this year the Sydney Convention and Visitors Bureau has secured bids for almost a dozen incentive tours from Asia.

Jon Hutchison, managing director of the Sydney Convention and Visitors Bureau, predicts that such visits will eventually become as significant as the lucrative convention industry, worth $10 billion a year to the national economy.

Indeed, the bureau says its research shows that visitors on incentive tours on average contribute $990 a day to Sydney and NSW's economy, nearly $250 more than conference delegates.

Asian business meetings and incentive visits held in Sydney in 2003-04 are worth $24 million to the city, up from less than $1 million a few years ago.

Mr Hutchison believes that the combination of Sydney's proximity to Asia and its cosmopolitan atmosphere are big attractions for companies.

Buoyed by the potential, the Sydney Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre have opened an office in Hong Kong to generate more business.